The Bridge Battle of the Century as it was called
when it took place between December 1931 and January 1932, was a genuine milestone
in the history of the development and promotion of bridge as it is known today. Combining
as it did every feature designed to capture and hold the interest of the then bridge-mad
multitudes, and starring the greatest celebrities then prominent in bridge, it was
predestined to be an exciting and long-remembered event. These were the years when
bridge was making its impact felt keenly in the United States for the first lime.

During the previous decade, many new styles
of bidding and play had come to the forefront, and most prominent among these was
the CULBERTSON SYSTEM. Conceived and popularized by a man who was a born molder of
opinions and customs, and who was a superbly able practical psychologist as well,
the Culbertson System took the nation by storm, and was indeed original in concept
and, as practiced by its leading exponents, a successful and highly practical method
of bidding in bridge. Naturally its success caused many rivalries and feuds among
those players who were at the very top rungs of the bridge ability ladder. This resulted
in a strange war, a Systemic War in which 12 leading authorities. including Sidney
Lenz, Milton Work, Wilbur C. Whitehead and Edward V Shepad, got together and organized
a corporation, Bridge Headquarters, all forces joined to combat Culbertson's domination
of Contract Bridge.

The principal leader of the various groups
in opposition to the Culbertson methods was Lenz, a veteran of Auction Bridge. In
his camp were other great luminaries of the game who also felt that their methods
were superior to the Culbertson System. The name by which the Lenz forces' system
was called was the Official System. A book on this system, which acknowledged its
debt to Culbertson in that much of it was derived from his concepts, was later to
be written by Work. Thc actual match was the result of a challenge made earlier in
1931 by Culbertson to the Lenz faction. There were many complications to be ironed
out before agreement as to conditions could actually be achieved, but essentially
the match was finally played on a pair-against-pair basis, with Culbertson wagering
$5,000 against Lenzís $1,000 on the outcome, with the money going to charity no matter
who won. Culbertson promoted the match as the struggle of a young loving married
couple against the forces of adversity with 12 jealous authorities, the establishment,
combined against them. Of course it was also billed as a grudge fight and a battle
of systems. As a result the match was a topic of conversation at every bridge table
and at many dinner tables long before it began. In all, 150 rubbers were played,
and during 88 of them Culbertson played with his wife, Josephine. His partners for
the balance of the encounter were Theodore A. Lightner, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz, Howard
Schenken, and Michael Gottlieb.

Lenz played the first 103 rubbers with Oswald
Jacoby, who then resigned because of a difference of opinion on the play of a defensive
situation. Lenz's partner for the remainder of the session was Commander Winfield
Liggett Jr. Alfred Gruenther, then a lieutenant instructor at West Point, was chief
referee of the match.

The Culbertson team won by 8,980 points. Careful
and accurate records of cards held for each deal were kept, and at the conclusion
it was determined that each side had held fairly much the same number of high cards
as the other. The first half of the match was held at New York's Chatham Hotel, and
the second part at the newly opened Waldorf-Astoria. The conditions of play and of
protocol in general were governed by an agreement to which both Culbertson and Lenz
were signatory, and the bridge laws under which the match was conducted were those
published by the Whist Club of New York.

Bridge Match

Culbertson

Lenz

Points Won

122,925

113,945

Rubbers Won

77

73

Number of two-game rubbers

37

32

Size of average rubber won

934

866

Largest rubber won

2,590

2,825

Games

195

186

Small Slams bid and made

9

8

Small Slams defeated
(not including sacrifices)

9

5

Grand Slams defeated

0

1

Opening Suit bids of one

366

289

Opening 1 No Trump bids

43

45

Opening forcing bids

5

5

Small Slams made but not bid
(many owing to lucky breaks)

20

19

Games made but not bid
(many owing to lucky breaks)

15

13

Successful Contracts

273

273

Defeated Contracts

142

162

Number of exact game Contract
voluntarily bid and defeated

48

49

Number of Penalties of 600 plus

7

14

Points lost in Penalties of 600 plus

5,900

11,500

Aces

1,745

1,771

Kings

1,775

1,771

Honor Tricks

3,649

3,648

Points (4-3-2-1)

18,091

17,898

Value of average rubber:

899

Hands dealt:

879

Hands passed out:

25

Coverage by the press of the nation was stupendous. Stories about the match were on the front pages of newspapers all over America. Regular correspondents were dispatched to the scenes of play, and some of the great newspaper personalities of the time wrote articles for their papers and for syndicates. The Associated Press laid heavy cables right into the Culbertson apartment at the Chatham Hotel, assigned reporters to the match and gave play-by-play coverage while Western Union and Postal Telegraph established branches in a spare room.

A continuous line of the rich and famous moved into the drawing room and out of it, viewing the action through cracks in a large leather screen, and trying to catch a glimpse of the players' faces or the flash of a card being played. Culbertson called it the greatest peep show in history. A 438-page book, Famous Hands of The Culbertson-Lenz Match, was published in three sections with bidding and play analyzed by Culbertson and his partners, Jacoby, and Lt. Gruenther. Complete statistics were collated, and records of every phase of the match carefully kept. However, the single most significant feature of the entire proceedings was the enormous impetus it gave bridge when the game's popularity was already great.